D&D General My Problem(s) With Halflings, and How To Create Engaging/Interesting Fantasy Races

[Paul Farquhar]

The problem with this point is that there is zero evidence that there are any significant numbers of "poeple who like to play".

It's up to the authors to make an educated guess when they write the book.

halflings are this popular, commonly played race.

I don't think anyone is suggesting they are in the same league as humans, elves and dwarves - boring players are boring. But some people like them is reason enough not to delete them.

 

[Hussar]

I will play the "elves are generic" game though.

Let's see racial features:

• Medium size - sounds pretty human to me
• Long Life - The number of campaigns that span a time frame greater than a human life has got to be incredibly small. As such, Elven characters don't really ever get a chance to feel old. Time passes for them the same as every other character. In fact, they likely get to feel old less often than halflings get to feel lucky or brave.
• Perception proficiency - Humans can have this
• Trance - Roleplaying how the party sleeps is boring. How often are we acting out long rests?
• Some weapon proficiencies - humans can get these.
• A cantrip - humans can get these
• Slightly faster move speed - humans can get this
• Dark vision - you got me

Still.. what do we have? Elves are basically just humans with darkvision.

Generic.

Except that WotC has done stuff with Trance. When elves trance, they relive past lives. This has been used to great effect in modules. But, I'm blanking on the module name right now. Sigh.

 

[Mind of tempest]

It's up to the authors to make an educated guess when they write the book.

I don't think anyone is suggesting they are in the same league as humans, elves and dwarves - boring players are boring. But some people like them them is reason enough not to delete them.

an educated guess could end up with no halflings.

some people like them is not a reason to have them as a major race as default, otherwise we should have thir kreen and changelings as major races, not delete them shaw but it does not justify the present position.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Note, I did mention that I couldn't do a search on Rime of the Frostmaiden, so, I couldn't include that in any of my numbers. But, it looks like halflings play pretty much no role in the module, from what you're saying,

I thought I was saying the opposite.

in a setting that is predominantly human (the Ten Towns) which means, according to many in this thread, we should be up to our ankles in halflings.

There are actually lots of named non-humans populating the Ten Towns in Rime of the Frostmaiden - some of whose races matter - a half orc experiences racial prejudice (implied), a dragonborn hides in a snowdrift because he is cold-resistant. And others where it doesn't - the place is crawling with dwarves.

Nimsy's house is certainly up to your ankles in halflings - she has at least four children, and therefore the population of Loneywood is at least 5% halfling.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

an educated guess could end up with no halflings.

some people like them is not a reason to have them as a major race as default, otherwise we should have thir kreen and changelings as major races, not delete them shaw but it does not justify the present position.

NO race should be a major race as default. But getting sulky about a race you don't like being listed first isn't a good reason to genocide them.

 

[Mind of tempest]

NO race should be a major race as default.

so what we get rid of every major race including human? the books always have a kinda default setting to make it certain they are not utterly dry literature and be able to do their base job of inspiring players and dms.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

so what we get rid of every major race including human?

All lineages should be given equal status, including human. Human-less settings are perfectly valid.

look if players like to play them then making it so that dm can world build with them effectively would help avoid the container look and make both sides feel less at odds.

Things that make a good player character and things that define world history are very different and should not be entangled.

 

[Gammadoodler]

Except that WotC has done stuff with Trance. When elves trance, they relive past lives. This has been used to great effect in modules. But, I'm blanking on the module name right now. Sigh.

1. That isn't in the description for trance in the PHB.
2. Narratively it sounds just as impactful a feature just dreaming, which most every other race can do too.

 

[Yaarel]

All lineages should be given equal status, including human. Human-less settings are perfectly valid.

Things that make a good player character and things that define world history are very different and should not be entangled.

Because the Human is reallife, I prefer the Human be the measure of comparison. It helps players have an anchor within the gameworld to compare whats what relative to it. Thus feature the Human first, before any other lineages.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Because the Human is reallife, I prefer the Human be the measure of comparison.

As I mentioned earlier, the D&D human doesn't feel very much like what I am.